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2 CHRISTCHURCH MAIL, MARCH 12, 2015 NEWS Racetrack days numbered ENQUIRIES 03 379 0940 enquiries@themail.co.nz Private Bag 4722, Christchurch 8140 www.chchmail.co.nz REPORTERS Anna Price Ph: 03 943 2582 anna.price@themail.co.nz Arielle Monk Ph: 03 943 2583 arielle.monk@themail.co.nz ACTING EDITOR Rachel Macdonald Ph: 03 943 2810 rachel.macdonald@fairfaxmedia.co.nz 6562084AA goclassifi eds@themail.co.nz MEDIA SALES TEAM LEADER Sharee Brosnan CLASSIFIEDS 03 377 8778 Ph: 03 943 2647, 027 435 7786 sharee.brosnan@themail.co.nz MEDIA SALES CONSULTANTS Marie Stewart - Eastern Ph: 03 943 2567, 027 226 3621 marie.stewart@themail.co.nz Faris Mikdame - Southern Ph: 03 943 2872, 0274 490 649 faris.mikdame@themail.co.nz Casey Donnithorne - South West Ph: 03 943 2548, 0274 873 029 casey.donnithorne@themail.co.nz By ANNA PRICE A land deal is under way to acquire the popular Motordrome go-kart racing track venue in Templeton for the NZ Transport Agency’s Main South Rd widening plan. Landowner Suzette Meroiti, who jointly operates the business with her husband, Andrew, says the ‘‘tail-end’’ of negotiations is now in sight. A deal could be cut ‘‘anytime from now’’. Meroiti says the imminent purchase will mean the end of trading and ‘‘a big loss’’ to the Christchurch public, who have patronised the business over the past nine years. Thousands have flocked to The Motordrome to pit their skills. ‘‘It’s just another entertain- Free Designer Cushions with your Receive Cushions to the value of $500 with drapery orders made prior to 30th April 2015 your free cushions ment venue gone – and the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere,’’ she says. ‘‘But you can’t stop progress.’’ The oval, 350-metre, banked, sealed track on the corner of Dawsons and Main South roads has seen some high-speed racing. It is probably the only track in world on which karters can actually race on an oval track, which demands a different technique to circuit driving. ‘‘Pre-resource consent, we had all our cars built with roll cages fitted, to race on a dirt track, but when we went to consent to build and operate, we were told that dust from the track would be a safety issue for traffic on the Main South Rd – the track had to be sealed,’’ says Meroiti, a 64-year-old grandmother and former petrolhead. However, the cars were not designed to race on seal, so Meroiti headed to Germany, to the Michael Schumacher go-karting venue in Kerpen, to buy up 15 of the Formula One legend’s karts. She was also given a pair of Schumacher’s overalls ‘‘and I raced in them’’. Before Team Meroiti set up the Motordrome, Suzette raced production saloons at Woodford Glen speedway, where her first husband raced. In the late 1980s, women were barred from racing alongside the men, but Road-widening casualty: On the grid at the Motordrome. Suzette (then Lamont) won the once-a-year women’s race, held at the end of each season on club days, and the promoters eventually conceded that the husband and wife team would be a crowdpuller and allowed her to race with the men. The couple then moved to Australia, where Suzette raced at the Newcastle Motordrome speedway. She became the first woman driver the promoters publicised on local TV, such was the anti- women feeling there. When they returned to New Zealand, the couple bought Superkarts Indoor Raceway, formerly the Indoor Grand Prix venue on Annex Rd. ‘‘With the help of the YMCA, we packed the entire track contents into trucks and moved into Moorhouse Ave.’’ She sold the business in 2000. In 2004, Suzette and her second husband, Andrew, bought a block of land in Templeton from Ngai Tahu. The rest is history. Student army broadens its role The Student Volunteer Army (SVA) got stuck in after the Christchurch earthquakes, swarming neighbourhoods to shovel silt. Now, even though the immediate disaster is over, the students aren’t winding down. The youthful charity group Id i F i S l from Canterbury University is ramping up its operations by partnering with City Care, a nationwide construction maintenance and management company. City Care will be the SVA’s gold sponsor for the year, providing funding for its operations, as well as logistical and advisory support. It is a natural pairing, given Call 027 224 0705 now to book your in-home appointment www.swiftdesigns.co.nz E: treena@swiftdesigns.co.nz 6397974AD both groups have a shared goal – community support and city reconstruction, says SVA president Lucy Mclean. ‘‘When we look for sponsors, we generally want someone with similar goals and similar values to what we have. It and getting students working with their communities,’’ Mclean says. ‘‘I think our mission has broadened in that sense. SVA is growing, and can be even bigger than it it was during the earthquake days.’’ Partnership: Student Volunteer Army (SVA) president Lucy McLeod with SVA vice president Alex Cheesebrough and City Care chief executive Onno Mulder at the signing of a new partnership. was an alignment of values, and we thought it was a perfect match for us,’’ she says. Alongside financial support for the group, City Care’s employees will give advice, and provide equipment and vehicles for SVA’s community events. The move is part of the maturing of the SVA, which sees it depart from its emergency relief origins to become a fully fledged community support group. ‘‘[We’ve] obviously transitioned a great deal since the earthquake days. It’s a long time ago that we were shovelling silt. It has become something a lot bigger than what it was, and now we’re focused on wider community engagement Alongside its Connect the Community event, where students invade a suburb once a year to help the community with odd jobs, the SVA is upskilling students this year by placing them in charity positions related to their degrees. The partnership is a natu- ral fit for both groups, says City Care chief executive Onno Mulder, as well. ‘‘Our two organisations are very hands-on in our approach, with deep roots in the community, and our values are closely aligned . . . we’re privileged to be able to play our part in supporting their great work.’’ SHOP ONLINE livingandgiving.co.nz 0800 LIVING [0800 548 464] *discounts are not additional to existing reductions. Offer ends Monday 6 April, 2015.